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9/11 Remembered

Could it be 9/11/2001 was 12 years ago? I just got off the phone with an old friend; we were in Atlanta for a technology trade show and spent every moment together learning what we could about the events of the attack on America that forever changed the way we think of terrorism.

President Obama led the nation in a moment of silence to honor the victims of 9/11 and their families.

From the story in The Hill:

Obama said the 12th anniversary of the terror attacks was a chance to pause, pray and “give humble thanks as families and as a nation.”

“We pray for the memory of all those taken from us — nearly 3,000 innocent souls,” Obama said. Members of Congress will mark the anniversary with a ceremony on the Capitol steps, where lawmakers gathered after the attack in 2001 as a symbol of unity.

At the Capitol, dozens of lawmakers gathered to pay tribute to the fallen on Wednesday.

“I will never forget 12 years ago,” Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said, after singling out the “police officers, firefighters and all the first responders” who gave their lives or contributed on that day, some of whom, he pointed out, have fallen ill from the fumes they inhaled during rescue efforts.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) read a passage from the book of Isaiah in the Bible, and said that while the word “weary” has been bandied about to describe how citizens feel about the U.S. engagement in foreign wars, it was not a word that accurately depicts the bravery of those who “ran up the stairwell or stormed the cockpit” on Sept. 11.

“Yes, we’ve been through the crucible and we live in a dangerous world,” Boehner said. “But we can take heart that ours is the greatest cause and the work before us is not above our capacity or strength. After all, we’re Americans.”

We invite you to share your memories of 9/11 in the comments section below.

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2 comments for “9/11 Remembered”

junior

September 11, 2013 at 5:56 pm

Beside being exctremely upset at the attack on our country and our freedom and loss of life – I was, and still am, very upset at both the Clinton and Bush Administrations for our lack of response (call it retaliation/revenge – I don’t care) – for the terrorist attack on the USS Cole – previous to 9/11. Maybe the right hit on those who hate us would have prevented the tragedy of 9/11.

francisco "Paco" barragán

September 11, 2013 at 6:26 pm

We should never forget, and should remain vigilant against those who want to harm innocent Americans and civilians worldwide.

In August 1998, terrorists bombed the United States embassies in the capitals of two East African countries, Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. About 250 people were killed, including 12 Americans, and more than 5,500 were injured. After intelligence linked the bombings to Osama bin Laden, a wealthy Saudi Arabian living in Afghanistan who was suspected of terrorist activity, Clinton ordered missile attacks on sites in Afghanistan and Sudan in retaliation for the bombings at the U.S. embassies and to deter future terrorist attacks.

USS COLE
On October 12, 2000, terrorists bombed the USS Cole in the harbor of the Yemeni port of Aden. The attack on the USS Cole (DDG-67), a U.S. Navy destroyer, killed 17 Navy sailors, and there was no clear indication during the last months of Clinton’s term of who was responsible. The CIA reported that they had “no definitive answer on [the] crucial question of outside direction of the attack—how and by whom. Clinton did not think it would be wise to launch an attack based on a “preliminary judgment,” stating that he would have taken further action had he received definitive intelligence. The CIA was eventually able to confirm bin Laden’s involvement with certainty a week after the Bush administration took office.

CLINTON’s Plan to deal with Al Quaeda shared with Bush Admin:
As Clinton’s second term drew to a close, the CSG drafted a comprehensive policy paper entitled “Strategy for Eliminating the Threat from the Jihadist Networks of al Qida: Status and Prospects.” http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB147/clarke%20attachment.pdf The paper outlined a method to “roll back” al Qaeda over “a period of three to five years.” Clarke stated that while “continued anti-al Qida operations at the current level will prevent some attacks, [it] will not seriously attrit their ability to plan and conduct attacks.” This policy paper was forwarded to the incoming Bush administration.